Professor Richard G. Whitman is Professor of Politics and International Relations in the School of Politics and International Relations. He joined the University of Kent in September 2011.
Professor Whitman is also a Visiting Fellow at Chatham House (formerly known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs) and an Academic Fellow at the European Policy Centre. He regularly writes and researches for think tanks.
He was Professor of Politics at the University of Bath 2006-2011. Senior Fellow, Europe (April 2006-April 2007) and Head of the European Programme at Chatham House (April 2004 to April 2006). Prior to arrival at Chatham House he was Professor of European Studies at the University of Westminster and where he was also Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy from 2001-2003.
Richard Whitman is a contributor to leading journals, and has presented many papers and keynote addresses. His current research interests include the external relations and foreign and security and defence policies of the EU, and the governance and future priorities of the EU. He is a lead editor of the Journal of Common Market Studies on the editorial boards of European Security and Studia Diplomatica. He was an ESRC Senior Fellow on its UK in a Changing Europe initiative and leading a project on The interrelationship of UK and EU foreign policy: costs and benefits in 2016.
Professor Whitman is a regular media commentator, working with print and broadcast media at home and overseas. He has been interviewed widely on Europe and European integration. Recent coverage has included BBC radio and television, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, Newsweek, Reuters, the International Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal. Professor Whitman was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in October 2007 and from 2009-2012 the elected Chair of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). He was a Chair of the British International Studies Association (BISA) 2017-2018.